From the perspective of the Alternative for Germany, Berlin is a disaster. Everywhere you look there is decay and neglect. But the right-wing party offers hope: the AfD can “make Berlin strong.” That is the central message the party wants to bring to the city ahead of the elections on September 20. In light of “breathtaking poll numbers” including in Berlin, state leader and lead candidate Kristin Brinker and her colleagues struck a confident tone as they addressed the press on Tuesday at the party’s federal headquarters in an industrial area in Wittenau.

At times, Brinker sounds similar to Kai Wegner during the 2022/23 election campaign. The current governing mayor from the CDU had also called for Berlin to function again. And when the AfD writes on its posters that “rent must not make you poor,” it echoes a message even the Left or Social Democrats could likely agree with.

“Unrestricted migration to the city,” says Brinker—but numbers are down

However, the tone is ultimately different: “Berlin is decaying. Migrants are coming to the city unrestricted. This costs two billion euros per year,” says Brinker. “We need the money elsewhere.” The fact that the number of asylum seekers dropped to just over 5,000 last year—only half as many as in 2024—and that this year only just over 1,000 have been recorded is not mentioned in this portrayal of a crisis.

“We must stop migration,” says the candidate. How this is supposed to align with the vision of elevating Berlin to the level of immigration-shaped cities like London and Paris remains unclear. But of course it is only about “irregular migration,” Brinker clarifies when asked. By this, she apparently means asylum seekers.

Berlin’s AfD also supports remigration, but emphasizes it less than in Saxony-Anhalt

The Berlin state association is not quite as radical as its party colleagues in Saxony-Anhalt, who hope for an absolute majority in Magdeburg. However, the program of those colleagues—calling, among other things, for large-scale remigration and the abolition of compulsory schooling—is described as “excellent” by program coordinator Martin Trefzer. The term “remigration” will also appear in the Berlin election program, which is to be adopted in May, but adapted to a big-city context.

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Like her counterpart from the Left, Brinker also wants to focus on housing. She says the goal should be a return to the year 2000, when there was an oversupply of apartments. The fact that unemployment stood at 16 percent at that time, that the city’s economic output has since doubled, and that the population has grown by nearly half a million people plays no role in this retrospective view. Mentioning these developments would undermine the narrative of decline and the alleged responsibility of “failed coalitions.”

Social housing should go to “Berliners” determined by a points system

Naturally, the AfD wants to build more housing. However, it rejects rent regulation. Tenants can already defend themselves against excessive rents, says Brinker. But they should not be “incited” against landlords. State-owned apartments should in the future be allocated “to Berliners.” A points system would determine eligibility. Those born here or who have lived here for a long time should be given preference. This would also apply to “EU foreigners.” In addition, the AfD wants to prioritize “essential professions” such as police officers, firefighters, or care workers in the allocation of publicly funded housing. However, this would not apply to people moving out of refugee accommodations.

The fact that many of the thousands of people living in these state-owned facilities already have residence status and are simply unable to find other housing went unmentioned. “Many have gained the impression that new construction projects are now only being built for asylum seekers,” said Trefzer. He cannot be referring to regular housing construction—only, at most, to the 37 modular refugee accommodations (MUFs) that exist in Berlin.

“The world should once again look to this city.” – Kristin Brinker, state leader and lead candidate of the Berlin AfD

Berlin should no longer be bogged down in “small-scale management” as under Kai Wegner, says the AfD leader. Drawing on the legacy of the post-war mayor Ernst Reuter (SPD), she wishes that the world would once again “look to this city.” When it comes to the desired era, Brinker is flexible. She invokes the SPD icon Willy Brandt, who, during the Cold War, “fought for his city” as governing mayor of West Berlin. Berlin, she suggests, once had “a lot of research” and “cultural highlights,” referring to the 1920s. Only the Nazi era is not a model for today. What happened then was “catastrophic, disgusting, revolting.” The AfD is far removed from that, she claims, as it is the only party with no former NSDAP members in its ranks—although the number in the Greens, founded in the 1980s, would also likely be close to zero.

Violence in schools should end, and a focus on performance should return. According to the AfD, this is hindered above all by the inclusion of children with disabilities in regular classes. And of course, German should be spoken in schoolyards—something that few in the public debate dispute. At the end of the press conference, the AfD also raised the idea of having the governing mayor elected directly, in order to strengthen direct democracy. This is common in many municipalities. However, since Berlin is a federal state, it would represent a significant break in the federal system. Brinker largely retracted the remark, saying it still needs to be discussed.

This article was originally written and published on the 14th of April in German. It was translated in English with the use of Artificial Intelligence.